Book details

Freethinkers

A History of American Secularism

Author: Susan Jacoby

Freethinkers

Freethinkers

$26.00

About This Book

"Jacoby accomplishes her task with clarity, thoroughness, and an engaging passion."
-Los Angeles Times Book Review

At a time when...

Page Count
448
Genre
On Sale
12/23/2004

Book Details

"Jacoby accomplishes her task with clarity, thoroughness, and an engaging passion."
-Los Angeles Times Book Review

At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason. In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby traces more than two hundred years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution. Moving from nineteenth-century abolitionism and suffragism through the twentieth century's civil liberties, civil rights, and feminist movements, Freethinkers illuminates the neglected achievements of secularists who, allied with tolerant believers, have led the battle for reform in the past and today.

Rich with such iconic figures as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Paine, and the once-famous Robert Green Ingersoll, Freethinkers restores to history the passionate humanists who struggled against those who would undermine the combination of secular government and religious liberty that is the glory of the American system.

Imprint Publisher

Holt Paperbacks

ISBN

9780805077766

In The News

“Ardent and insightful.” —The New York Times

“In lucid and witty prose, Jacoby has uncovered the hidden history of secular America.” —The Washington Post Book World

About the Creators

Freethinkers

Freethinkers

$26.00